Activator vs Spiitfire

06-11-2012, 04:26 PM

Hi guys. Would really like to know if anyone has surfed both these boards? I'm down to choosing one or the other. I'll be taking it on a trip around Lombok next month and then will be hoping to get a lot of use out of it as a bit of a goto board. Any words of advice?

I'm 31, 80kgs (175lbs), 6'1, around an intermediate surfer, pulling into cover ups (hoping to make it out of the green room on the trip!), starting to get good carve backs and getting off the lip now and then.

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I've confused myself a whole lot more.... I've gone and looked at the stealth and it also looks like a ripper that can perform on a day when things are small and blown out and also overhead and barreling! I dunno, maybe I have stars in my eyes! At the moment I'm tossing up between a 5'10 Spit (33.5), 5'11 Act (32.8) or 6'02 Stealth (34.1). I'm veering away from the hellfire as it's been promoted as a back foot board and in times of need I'm always on the front foot. Decisions decisions...

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I've not looked at the high performance boards as I was looking to try and find something in the lower range of swell sizes. I should have mentioned it earlier but I also have a flexfire, I know that it's out of my league as far as performance goes but I'm keeping it as the bigger and more "perfect" wave board until I've filled the bottom end of the spectrum. That being said I still find it awesome fun to ride. I just know that I'm doing it an injustice!

So yeah, I'm looking for a board for the other half, or should I say 95%, that will fill the gap for those times when the flexfire is no good.

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Ah I get you. I thought you were looking for a one board quiver and some of the shorter, flatter boards would leave you a little lacking when the waves get good. With a Flexy though you're covered.

I think the Activator or Spitfire are the picks for something that will be a lot of fun in smaller stuff and still go well in better stuff right up to the point when you'd be reaching for the Flexfire.

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Cheers! Yeah that should have been mentioned earlier. I'll add a signature once I've got more than one to brag about! Can the Activator be expected to perform when that dream forecast of 4ft offshore turns out to be 2ft on? Or would a Dominator/ Sweet Potato be needed to fill out that area? I get the impression that the SP can handle a bit of mush.

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I'm not sure how the bottom end of the Activator compares to the Spitfire, but the Spit will work in waist high plus stuff as long as it has a little push. The Sweet P would eat that up, but the SF would cope.

yeah lower end of the Activator is close to the Spitfire. It has a little less area in the tail, and because of that, it probably likes a slightly better wave, but the difference between the Spit and Act is way smaller than the difference between the Spit and the Potato...

I just got back from Indo and I took my spit with me and rode it only a couple of times over 2 weeks. I also took my hellfire and a 6'8 Aloha AF2 turbo (quite similar to the alternator but less volume). Next time I think I'd leave the spit at home and just take 2 boards instead...I'm thinking of a 6'6 alt to replace the AF2.

The spit is a great board for weak waves but you won't find that many in Indo except perhaps on weaker sloppier days along Kuta/Leggian/Seminyak strip in Bali. I have not ridden the activator but I think I'd be leaning towards that, the foil is a little more refined and it appears to have a tad more rocker. So it looks to me like a better small wave board for Indo.

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Just got back from Indo sorry for the confusion I rode my Spitfire 90% of the time out Ulu, Kuta Reef, Beachies and Balian the swell did not get bigger than 5ft the only time the spitfire felt sketchy was at Ulu 4-5ft low tide otherwise it went unreal, I did not take my Hellfire out of the cover. See some pics at Ulu._MG_6543.jpg_MG_7080.jpg_MG_8524.jpg_MG_8570.jpg_MG_8571.jpg

Just got back from Indo sorry for the confusion I rode my Spitfire 90% of the time out Ulu, Kuta Reef, Beachies and Balian the swell did not get bigger than 5ft the only time the spitfire felt sketchy was at Ulu 4-5ft low tide otherwise it went unreal, I did not take my spitfire out of the cover. See some pics at Ulu.